Originally Posted by
Roland Pulfrew
Gentlemen
I have to agree with CS. We should:
- Decide what we as a nation want to be capable of doing (NEO, stabilisation, intervention, global (thermo-nuclear) warfare etc).
- Decide what capabilities we want/need to achieve our aims.
- Decide what size manpower requirement we need to man those capabilities.
- And the bloody well fund them. Properly.
Getting rid of Trident or son of Trident will only allow more money to be spent on the UK's Sacred Cows - Education (2.5 times the Defence budget); Health (3 and a bit times the Defence budget) and welfare and pensions (6 times the Defence budget). Even our interest payment on the national debt is more than the Defence budget (thanks Labour).
The country can easily afford to spend more on Defence, our politicians just choose not to.
And long may that spending priority continue. I don't want to live in a country that spends more on defence than it does on Education and Health thank you. What we need to do is be realistic about how we spend what we do on defence not spend more. We are no longer a military global power fella nor should we aspire to be so. That does not mean we become less than what we are.